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Friday, 12 August 2011

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan (3.5/5)

The back says:There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister’s face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah’s world stopped that day and she’s been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn’t feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.

Except, Catcher has his own secrets – dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah’s longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it’s up to Annah – can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return’s destruction?

I say: This is the third and final part of this dystopian trilogy and, quite frankly, it couldn't have come soon enough. I've already spoken about Ryan'swriting previously, so it seems a tad redundant to repeat myself. However, and very thankfully,

this was the most exciting of the three.

We're in the DarkCity now, where all the action seems to be. However, sometimes there was so much action it was exhausting. There was one instance at the end where I seriously thought 'just die already so this can end'. It feels like Ryan was stretching it way too far (as she's done previously) and that bothered me.

A lot.

We're introduced to a new person, Annah, Gabry's twin sister and this girl is just so stupid. I really don't like calling characters (or people in general - objects are fine) stupid, but there really is no other word. She's not naive - she can't be - because she's been in the DarkCity most of her life, and yet she's constantly making stupid decision after stupid decision. I can't even begin to recall how many times she almost died as a result of her stupidity.

Ooops, was that a spoiler?

At this point, does anybody even care...?

If you don't (or do) more spoilers after the jump.

The reason I kept reading was because I wanted to find out about the infection, how it all started and such, but that was not given. I get that the people themselves didn't know, and I liked the touch of showing the room with the maps and the logic behind it, but I wanted more - and I hate finishing a book, or even worse, as in this case, a trilogy, and being left with the feeling of wanting more. Now don't get me wrong, I don't want more of the story, I just want more answers.

But that is not to be provided, and even if it were, I seriously wouldn't have read any more of these books. This last one drained me completely. I hated the ending, even though I could see it coming from miles away, and if it weren't for that I would have given this a 4/5, but oh well. Some 1100 odd pages later and I'm ok with having read the trilogy. Had I known then what I know now I wouldn't have bothered though, to be honest. There are far better books in the same genre out there.

1 comment:

I loved the original Forest of Hands and Teeth, but was disappointed with the sequel. This book redeems the series. It provides explanation for some of the questions brought up in the first two books. It also reunites, all of the major characters as well as well as explaining some history. Characters who you thought you knew become traitors and then are redeemed again. It takes the intensity of the first book to a new level. The author also leaves room at the end for the possibility of yet another sequel - I am hoping for one.